Jeremiyah (Jeremiah) – Chapters 1 – 26

CHAPTER 1

The words of Jeremiyah the son of Hilkiyah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benyahmin:
2 To whom the word of YEHOWAH came in the days of Josiyah the son of Amon king of Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Yehoiakim the son of Josiyah king of Yehudah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiyah the son of Josiyah king of Yehudah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 Then the word of YEHOWAH came unto me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations.”
6 Then said I, “Ah, Master YEHOWAH! Behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.”
7 But YEHOWAH said unto me, “Say not, ‘I am a child;’ for you will go to all that I will send you, and whatsoever I command you, so will you speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with you to deliver you,” says YEHOWAH.
9 Then YEHOWAH put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And YEHOWAH said unto me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
11 Moreover the word of YEHOWAH came unto me, saying, “Jeremiyah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.”
12 Then said YEHOWAH unto me, “You have seen well; for I will hasten My word to perform it.”
13 And the word of YEHOWAH came unto me the second time, saying, “What so you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot; and the face of it is toward the north.”
14 Then YEHOWAH said unto me, “Out of the north an evil will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says YEHOWAH; “and they will come, and they will set everyone their throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Yehudah.
16 And I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other elohim, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 You therefore gird up your loins, and rise up, and speak unto them all that I command you. Be not dismayed by their presence, or else I will confound you before them.
18 For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and copper walls against the whole land; against the kings of Yehudah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.
19 And they will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you,” says YEHOWAH, “to deliver you.”

CHAPTER 2

And the word of YEHOWAH came to me, saying,
2 “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH; “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your bride hood, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy unto YEHOWAH, and the first fruits of His increase. All that devour him will be guilty; and evil will come upon them,”’ says YEHOWAH.
4 Hear you the word of YEHOWAH, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
5 Thus says YEHOWAH, ‘What iniquity did your fathers find in Me, that they have gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?
6 Neither did they say, “Where is YEHOWAH who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits; through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death; through a land that nobody passed through, and where nobody dwelt?”
7 And I brought you into a fruitful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered; you defiled My land, and made My inheritance an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, “Where is YEHOWAH?” And those who handle the law knew Me not. The shepherds also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore I will yet plead with you,” says YEHOWAH, “and with your children’s children will I plead.
10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing:
11 Has a nation changed their elohim, who are yet no elohim? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
12 Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; and be very desolate,” says YEHOWAH.
13 “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and carved out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? Why has he become prey?
15 The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land a waste; his cities are burned without inhabitant.
16 Also the children of Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this unto yourself, in that you have forsaken YEHOWAH your Elohim, when He led you by the way?
18 And now what have you to do on the road to Egypt; drink the waters of Sihor? Or what have you to do on the road to Assyria; to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken YEHOWAH your Elohim, and that My fear is not in you,” says Master YEHOWAH of hosts.
20 “For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bands; and you said, ‘I will not transgress;’ yet upon every high hill, and under every green tree, you wander and play the harlot.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?
22 For though you wash with minerals, and use much soap, yet your iniquities are marked before Me,” says Master YEHOWAH.
23 How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baal’? See your way in the valley, know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary entangling its ways;
24 A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness that sniffs the wind at her pleasure; in her season, who will turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her season they will find her.
25 Withhold your foot from being barefoot, and your throat from thirst: but you said, ‘There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.’
26 As the thief is ashamed when they are found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
27 saying to a tree, ‘You are my father’; and to a stone, ‘You have brought me forth’; for they have turned their back to Me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’
28 But where are your elohim that you have made? Let them rise up if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your cities are your elohim, O Yehudah.
29 Wherefore will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says YEHOWAH.
30 “In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
31 O generations, take heed to the word of YEHOWAH. Have I been a wilderness to Israel; a land of darkness? Why then do My people say, ‘We are lords; we will come to You no more’?
32 Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten Me days without number.
33 How beautifully you prepare yourself to seek love. Therefore you have also taught the wicked your ways.
34 Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor and innocent: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
35 Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge with you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why do you go about so much to change your way? You also will be as ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 Yes, you will go forth from him with your hands upon your head; for YEHOWAH has rejected your confidences, and you will not prosper in them.”’

CHAPTER 3

“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, will he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted?’ But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet you return again to Me,” says YEHOWAH.
2 “Lift up your eyes unto the high places, and see where you have not been lain with. By the roads have you sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore the rains have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a whore’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed.
4 Will you not from this time forward cry unto Me, ‘My father, You are the guide of my youth?
5 Will He reserve His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done as evil of things as you could.”
6 YEHOWAH said also unto me in the days of Josiyah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, ‘Turn unto Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Yehudah saw it.
8 And I saw, even with all the causes given by backsliding Israel; because of her adulteries, that I put her away and gave her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Yehudah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with trees.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Yehudah has not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but deceivingly,” says YEHOWAH.
11 And YEHOWAH said unto me, “Backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Yehudah.
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, backsliding Israel’, says YEHOWAH; ‘and I will not cause My anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful’, says YEHOWAH, ‘and I will not remain angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against YEHOWAH your Elohim, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed My voice,’ says YEHOWAH.
14 ‘Turn, O backsliding children,’ says YEHOWAH; ‘for I am married unto you. And I will take you one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘they will say no more, “The Ark of the Covenant of YEHOWAH;” neither will it come to mind; neither will they remember it; neither will they visit it; neither will it journey forth any more.
17 And at that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of YEHOWAH; and all the nations will be gathered unto it, to the name of YEHOWAH, to Jerusalem. Neither will they walk any more after the lusts of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Yehudah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, “How will I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance in the hosts of nations?” And I said, “You will call Me, ‘My Father’; and will not turn away from Me.”
20 Surely as a wife deceitfully departs from her husband, so have you dealt deceitfully with Me, O house of Israel,’ says YEHOWAH.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten YEHOWAH their Elohim.
22 ‘Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your apostasy.’ Behold, we come unto You; for You are YEHOWAH our Elohim.
23 Truly in vain do we hope for salvation from the hills, or from the multitude of mountains. Truly in YEHOWAH our Elohim is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us, for we have sinned against YEHOWAH our Elohim, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of YEHOWAH our Elohim.’”

CHAPTER 4

“If you will return, O Israel,” says YEHOWAH, “Return to Me! And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you will not be removed.
2 And you will swear, ‘YEHOWAH lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.’ And the nations will bless themselves in Him, and in Him will they glory.”
3 For thus says YEHOWAH to the children of Yehudah and Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves unto YEHOWAH, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you children of Yehudah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; unless My fury come forth like fire, and burns so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
5 Declare you in Yehudah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, “Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.’
6 Lift up the standard toward Zion! Flee, stay not, for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations is on his way; he is going forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities will be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
8 For this put on sackcloth, lament and howl, for the fierce anger of YEHOWAH is not turned back from us.
9 And it will come to pass in that day,” says YEHOWAH, “that the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Master YEHOWAH! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace; whereas the sword reaches unto the soul.’
11 At that time will it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to scatter, nor to cleanse,
12 but a full wind from those places will come from Me, and now I will also utter judgment against them.
13 Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us, for we are spoiled.’
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your vain thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims affliction from mount Ephraim.
16 ‘Report it to the nations; behold, proclaim against Jerusalem, “Besiegers come from a far country, and lift up their voice against the cities of Yehudah.
17 Like keepers of a field they are against her round about; because she has been rebellious against Me,” says YEHOWAH.
18 Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you; this, your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart.
19 My bowels! My bowels are pained to My very heart; My heart pounds within Me; I cannot be silent, because You have heard the sound of the trumpet; the alarm of war, O My soul.
20 Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is spoiled. Suddenly My tents are spoiled, and My curtains in an instant.
21 How long will I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 For My people are foolish, they have not known Me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are cunning to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was nobody, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of YEHOWAH, and by His fierce anger.
27 For thus has YEHOWAH said, ‘The whole land will be desolate; yet I will not make a full end.
28 For this will the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I will not repent, nor will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city will flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they will go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks. Every city will be forsaken, and not one person will dwell in them.
30 And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you decorate yourselves with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with fair colors; in vain will you make yourself beautiful, for your lovers will despise you, and they will seek your life!
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, gasping, with her hands outstretched, saying, “Woe is me, for my heart is wearied because of murderers.”’

CHAPTER 5

“Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if you can find anyone, if there be any who executes judgment, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.
2 And though they say, ‘YEHOWAH lives;’ surely they swear falsely.”
3 O YEHOWAH, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock, and they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely these poor are foolish; for they know not the way of YEHOWAH, nor the judgment of their Elohim.
5 I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of YEHOWAH, and the judgment of their Elohim. But these also have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will slay them, and a wolf of the evenings will spoil them; a leopard will watch over their cities, and everyone that goes out from them will be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How will I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no elohim. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as well-fed horses in the morning; each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not punish for these things?” says YEHOWAH, “and will not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end. Take away her battlements; for they are not YEHOWAH’S.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Yehudah have dealt very deceitfully with Me,” says YEHOWAH.
12 They have lied about YEHOWAH, and said, ‘Not He; neither will evil come upon us; neither will we see sword nor famine.’
13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; and thus will it be done unto them.”
14 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH Elohim of hosts, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel,” says YEHOWAH, “it is a mighty nation; it is an ancient nation; a nation whose language you do not know, nor do you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, and they are all mighty men.
17 And they will eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds; they will eat up your vines and your fig trees; they will demolish your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.
18 Yet in those days,” says YEHOWAH, “I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it will come to pass, when you say, ‘Why does YEHOWAH our Elohim do all these things unto us?’ Then you will answer them, ‘As you have forsaken Me, and served strange elohim in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and proclaim it in Yehudah, saying,
21 ‘Hear now this, O foolish people without understanding; who have eyes, and see not; and who have ears, and hear not,
22 “Do you not fear Me?” asks YEHOWAH. “Will you not tremble at My presence, who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though its waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it?
23 But these people have a rebellious and disobedient heart. They have turned aside and departed.
24 They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear YEHOWAH our Elohim, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; Who reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 For among My people are found wicked people, who lay wait, as those that set snares; they set a trap, they catch mankind.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and make themselves rich.
28 They are also fat. They excel and surpass the deeds of the wicked. They judge not the cause, or the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper, and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not punish you for these things?” Says YEHOWAH; “Will not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A ruinous and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it?”

CHAPTER 6

“O you children of Benyahmin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem, for evil appears out of the north, and a great destruction.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to the comely and delicate.
3 The shepherds with their flocks will come unto her; they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will feed everyone in their place.
4 Prepare you war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.”
6 For thus has YEHOWAH of hosts said, “Cut down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem; this is the city to be visited; she is wholly a fraud in the midst of her.
7 As a fountain casts out her waters, so she casts out her wickedness; violence and spoil is heard in her; before Me continually is grief and wounds.
8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My Soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.”
9 Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine; turn back your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.
10 To whom will I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of YEHOWAH is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of YEHOWAH; I am weary with holding it in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of the chosen together, for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with them that are full of days.
12 And their houses will be turned over to others, with their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out My hand upon the inhabitants of the land,” says YEHOWAH.
13 “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone deals falsely.
14 They have also healed the hurt of the daughter of My people lightly, saying, ‘Peace! Peace!’ when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. Neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they will be cast down,” says YEHOWAH.
16 Thus says YEHOWAH, “Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk therein.’
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Hear the sound of the trumpet.’ But they said, ‘We will not hear.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My words, nor to My law, but they have rejected it.
20 To what purpose do you offer unto Me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices sweet unto Me.”
21 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together will fall upon them; the neighbors and their friends will perish.”
22 Thus says YEHOWAH, “Behold, a people is coming from the North Country, and a great nation will be raised from the recesses of the earth.
23 They will lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against you, O daughter of Zion.
24 We have heard of their fame, and our hands are week. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
26 O daughter of My people, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes. Mourn, as for an only child; a most bitter lamentation, for the spoiler will suddenly come upon us.
27 I have set you for a tower and a fortress among My people, that you may know and try their way.
28 They are all rebellious backsliders, walking with slander. They are brass and iron; they are all corrupt.
29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the refiners melt in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 They will call them reprobate silver, because YEHOWAH has rejected them.”

CHAPTER 7

The word that came to Jeremiyah from YEHOWAH, saying,
2 “Stand in the gate of YEHOWAH’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of YEHOWAH, all you of Yehudah, that enter in at these gates to worship YEHOWAH.
3 Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Trust not in lying words, saying, ‘The temple of YEHOWAH! The temple of YEHOWAH! The temple of YEHOWAH, are these!’
5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between one and their neighbor;
6 If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other elohim to your hurt;
7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.
8 Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other elohim whom you know not;
10 and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations?’
11 Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it,” says YEHOWAH.
12 “But go you now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says YEHOWAH, “and I spoke unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called to you, but you answered not;
14 therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein you trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not you for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither intercede unto Me, for I will not hear you.
17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven; and to pour out drink offerings unto other elohim, that they may provoke Me to anger.
19 Do they provoke Me to anger?” says YEHOWAH; “Do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces?”
20 Therefore thus says Master YEHOWAH; “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out upon this place, upon mankind, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it will burn, and it will not be quenched.”
21 Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; “Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
22 For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your Elohim, and you will be My people; and walk in all the ways that I command you, that it may be well unto you.’
24 But they listened not, or inclined their ear, but they walked in the counsel and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
26 Yet they listened not unto Me, nor did they incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; and they did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore you will speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken unto you. You will also call unto them; but they will not answer you.
28 But you will say unto them, ‘This is a nation that obeys not the voice of YEHOWAH their Elohim, nor receives correction. Truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the high places, for YEHOWAH has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
30 For the children of Yehudah have done evil in My sight,’ says YEHOWAH. ‘They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it,
31 and they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of Beth-Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘that it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of Beth-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury in Topheth, till there be no place remaining.
33 And the carcasses of this people will be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away.
34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Yehudah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for the land will be desolate.’”’”

CHAPTER 8

“At that time,” says YEHOWAH, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Yehudah, and the bones of their princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; out of their graves.
2 And they will spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped. They will not be gathered, nor be buried, for they will be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places to which I have driven them,” says YEHOWAH of hosts.
4 Moreover you will say unto them, “Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Will they fall, and not rise up? Will they turn away, and not return?
5 Why then have these people of Jerusalem backslidden by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast unto deceit, and they refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard, but they did not speak right. Not one repented of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turned to their course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Yes, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the judgment of YEHOWAH.
8 How do you say, “We are wise, and the law of YEHOWAH is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.”
9 The wise are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of YEHOWAH; and what wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives unto others, and their fields to those that will inherit them; for everyone from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people lightly, saying, “Peace! Peace!”, when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they committed the abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those that fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down,’ says YEHOWAH.
13 I will surely consume them,” says YEHOWAH: “there will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade; and the things that I have given them will pass away from them.”’”
14 Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For YEHOWAH our Elohim has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against YEHOWAH.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city, and all those that dwell in it.
17 “For, behold, I will send serpents and vipers among you, which cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” says YEHOWAH.
18 “I would comfort Myself against sorrow, but My heart is faint within Me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people, because of them that dwell in a far country, ‘Is not YEHOWAH in Zion? Is not her king in her?’ Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.’
21 For the brokenness of the daughter of My people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on Me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of My people recovered?”

CHAPTER 9

“Oh that My head were waters, and My eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of My people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a wayfarers lodging place, that I might leave My people, and go from them, for they are all adulterers; an assembly of deceivers.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know Me not, says YEHOWAH.
4 Beware each of you against your neighbor, and trust you not in any brethren, for the brethren will surely supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slander,
5 and they will deceive each one their neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says YEHOWAH.
7 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, “Behold, I will refine them, and try them; for what else can I do for the daughter of My people?
8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to their neighbor with their mouth, but in their heart they lay in wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things?” says YEHOWAH. Will not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains I will take up a weeping and a wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can anyone hear the lowing of the cattle. Both the fowl of the sky and the beast have fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of jackals; and I will make the cities of Yehudah desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise person that may understand this? And who is the one to whom the mouth of YEHOWAH may speak, that they may declare why the land perishes and is burned up like a wilderness; and why none may pass through it?”
13 And YEHOWAH says, “Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it,
14 but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baal, which their fathers taught them.”
15 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.”
17 Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the wailing women, that they may come,
18 and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How are we spoiled! We are put to great shame, because we have forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’
20 Yet hear the word of YEHOWAH, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.
21 For death has come up into our windows, and has entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH, “Even the carcasses of mankind will fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvesters, and none will gather them.”’
23 Thus says YEHOWAH; “Let not the wise glory in their wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in their might, let not the rich glory in their riches;
24 but let those that glory, glory in this: That they understand and know Me, that I am YEHOWAH who exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth. For in these things I delight,” says YEHOWAH.
25 “Behold, the days come,” says YEHOWAH, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised;
26 Egypt, and Yehudah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”

CHAPTER 10

Hear the word which YEHOWAH speaks unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus says YEHOWAH, “Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed by the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed by them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain, for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moves not;
5 they are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them; for they can do no evil, neither also is it in them to do any good.
6 Forasmuch as there is none like You, O YEHOWAH; for You are great, and Your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear You, O King of nations? For unto You alone is it suitable. Forasmuch as among all the wisdom of mankind throughout the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.
8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish; their tree is a doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workers, and of the hands of the refiners. Violet and purple is their clothing, and they are all the labor of the cunning.
10 But YEHOWAH is the true Elohim; He is the living Elohim, and an everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to bear His indignation.
11 Thus will you say to them, ‘The elohim that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
12 For He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His discretion.
13 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His storehouses.
14 Everyone is senseless in their knowledge. Every founder is confounded by their graven image, for their molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors, and in the time of their visitation they will perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. YEHOWAH of hosts is His name.
17 Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.’”
18 For thus says YEHOWAH, “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may be found.
19 Woe is Me for My hurt! My wound is grievous; but I said, ‘Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.’
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all My cords are broken. My children are gone forth of Me, and they are not. There is none to stretch forth My tent any more, and to set up My curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become senseless, and have not sought YEHOWAH; therefore they will not prosper, and all their flocks will be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the announcement has come, and a great commotion out of the North Country, to make the cities of Yehudah desolate, and a den of jackals.”
23 O YEHOWAH, I know that the way of mankind is not in them; it is not in mankind that walks to direct their steps.
24 O YEHOWAH, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that know You not, and upon the families that call not on Your name, for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.”

CHAPTER 11

The word that came to Jeremiyah from YEHOWAH, saying,
2 “Hear you the words of this covenant, and speak unto the children of Yehudah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
3 And say unto them, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH Elohim of Israel; “Cursed are they who obey not the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do them, according to all that I command you; so will you be My people, and I will be your Elohim;
5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.’”’ Then I answered, and said, ‘Amen, O YEHOWAH.’”
6 Then YEHOWAH said unto me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.’
7 For I solemnly testified unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and testifying, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’
8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each one in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.”
9 And YEHOWAH said unto me, “A conspiracy is found among the children of Yehudah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words; and they went after other elohim to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Yehudah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
11 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH, “Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they will not be able to escape; and though they will cry unto Me, I will not listen to them.
12 Then will the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the elohim unto whom they offer incense; but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13 For your elohim are as the number of your cities, O Yehudah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to that shameful thing; even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14 Therefore pray not for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble.
15 What has My beloved to do in My house, seeing she has been lewd with many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice.
16 YEHOWAH called your name, ‘A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit’, but with the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
17 For YEHOWAH of hosts, that planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Yehudah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
18 And YEHOWAH has given me knowledge of it, and I know it; then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against Me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut Him off from the land of the living, that His name may be remembered no more.’
20 But, O YEHOWAH of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the mind and the heart, let Me see your vengeance on them: for unto you have I revealed My cause.”
21 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH to the children of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, ‘Prophesy not in the name of YEHOWAH, that you die not by our hand’:
22 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by famine,
23 and there will be no remnant of them, for I will bring evil upon the children of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.’”

CHAPTER 12

Righteous are You, O YEHOWAH, when I plead with You. Yet let me talk with You of Your judgments: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?
2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow; yes, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth, but far from their minds.
3 But You, O YEHOWAH, know me. You have seen me, and tried my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, because of the wickedness of those that dwell in it? The beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, “He will not see our last end.”
5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?
6 For even your brethren, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yes, they have called a multitude after you. Believe them not, though they speak fair words unto you.”
7 “I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is unto Me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against Me, therefore I have hated it.
9 My heritage is unto Me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it desolate, and it mourns unto Me; the whole land is made desolate, because nobody lays it to heart.
12 The destroyers have come upon all the high places through the wilderness; for the sword of YEHOWAH will devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land; no flesh will have peace.
13 They have sown wheat, but will reap thorns, they have put themselves to pain, but will not profit; and they will be ashamed of your harvest, because of the fierce anger of YEHOWAH.”
14 Thus says YEHOWAH against all My evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit; “Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Yehudah from among them.
15 And it will come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, each one unto their inheritance, and each one unto their land.
16 And it will come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As YEHOWAH lives’; as they taught My people to swear by Baal; then they will be built in the midst of My people.
17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says YEHOWAH.

CHAPTER 13

Thus said YEHOWAH unto me, “Go and get a linen girdle, and put it about your waste, but do not put it in water.”
2 So I got a girdle according to the word of YEHOWAH, and put it about my waste.
3 And the word of YEHOWAH came unto me the second time, saying,
4 “Take the girdle that you have got, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.”
5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as YEHOWAH commanded me.
6 And it came to pass after many days, that YEHOWAH said unto me, “Rise up, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”
7 Then I went to Euphrates, and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it, and, behold, the girdle was destroyed; it was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of YEHOWAH came unto me, saying,
9 “Thus says YEHOWAH, ‘In this manner I will destroy the pride of Yehudah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and walk after other elohim, to serve them, and to worship them, will be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
11 For as the girdle cleaves to the waste of a person, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Yehudah,’ says YEHOWAH; ‘that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, but they would not hear.’
12 Therefore you will speak unto them this word; ‘Thus says YEHOWAH Elohim of Israel, “Every bottle will be filled with wine, and they will say unto you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’”’
13 Then will you say unto them, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says YEHOWAH. “I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
15 Hear you, and give ear; be not proud, for YEHOWAH has spoken.
16 Give glory to YEHOWAH your Elohim, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it a deep darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret places for your pride; and My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because YEHOWAH’S flock is carried away captive.
18 Say unto the king and to the queen, “Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities will come down, even the crown of your glory.
19 The cities of the south will be shut up, and none will open them. All of Yehudah will be carried away captive; it will be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes, and behold those that come from the north; where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when He will punish you? For you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over you. Will not sorrows take you, as a woman in travail?
22 And if you say in your heart, ‘Why are these things happening to me?’ It is because of the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts have been removed, and your heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change their skin, or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is your lot, the portion of your measures from Me,” says YEHOWAH; “because you have forgotten Me, and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore will I lift up your skirt upon your face, that your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries, and your neighing’s, the lewdness of your whoredom, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean? When will that be?”’”

CHAPTER 14

The word of YEHOWAH that came to Jeremiyah concerning the drought:
2 “Yehudah mourns, and its gates languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters; they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and humiliation covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is cracked, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
5 Yes, the doe also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like jackals; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
7 O YEHOWAH, though our iniquities testify against us, act for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You.
8 O the hope of Israel, our Deliverer in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfarer that turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should You be as a human, astonished, as a mighty warrior that cannot save? Yet You, O YEHOWAH, are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name; leave us not.”
10 Thus says YEHOWAH unto this people, “Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore YEHOWAH does not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.”
11 Then said YEHOWAH unto me, “Pray not for this people for their good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a grain offering, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
13 Then I said, “Ah, Master YEHOWAH! Behold, the prophets say unto them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”
14 Then YEHOWAH said unto me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of their own mind, and the deceit of their heart.”
15 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH concerning the prophets that prophesy in My name, and I sent them not, yet they say, “Sword and famine will not be in this land.” “By sword and famine will those prophets be consumed.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and the sword; and they will have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.”
17 Therefore you will say this word unto them; “Let My eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of My people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! Yes, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.’”
19 Have you utterly rejected Yehudah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O YEHOWAH, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
21 Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of Your glory: remember, break not Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are not You He, O YEHOWAH our Elohim? Therefore we will wait upon You: for You have made all these things.

CHAPTER 15

Then said YEHOWAH unto me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind would not be toward this people; send them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it will come to pass, if they say unto you, ‘Where will we go forth?’ Then you will tell them, Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Those destined for death, to death; and those destined for the sword, to the sword; and those destined for the famine, to the famine; and those destined for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 And I will appoint over them four plagues’, says YEHOWAH: ‘the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiyah king of Yehudah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who will have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? Or who will mourn for you? Or who will go aside to ask how you do?
6 You have forsaken Me,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘you are gone backward. Therefore will I stretch out My hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting.
7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.
8 Their widows will be more numerous to Me than the sand of the seas; I have brought upon them, against the mother of a chosen spoiler at noonday. I will suddenly bring down upon her anguish and dismay.
9 She that has borne seven languishes; she has given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been ashamed and humiliated, and the remainder of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies,’” says YEHOWAH.
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor have any lent to me on usury; yet everyone curses me.
11 YEHOWAH said, “Truly it will be well with your remnant; truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12 Will iron break the northern iron, or the brass?
13 Your substance and your treasures will I give for booty without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.
14 And I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you know not, for a fire is kindled in My anger, which will burn upon you.”
15 O YEHOWAH, You know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in your longsuffering, and know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O YEHOWAH, Elohim of hosts.
17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Your hand: for You have filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuse to be healed? Will You be altogether unto me as a lie, and as water that fails?
19 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH, “If you repent, then will I bring you again, and you will stand before Me: and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you will be as My mouth. Let them return unto you; but return not you unto them.
20 And I will make you unto this people a fenced copper wall, and they will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says YEHOWAH.
21 “And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the oppressor.”

CHAPTER 16

The word of YEHOWAH came also unto me, saying,
2 “You will not take for yourself a wife, neither will you have sons or daughters in this place.”
3 For thus says YEHOWAH concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
4 “They will die of grievous deaths; they will not be lamented; neither will they be buried; but they will be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they will be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcasses will be meat for the birds of the sky, and for the beasts of the earth.”
5 For thus says YEHOWAH, “Enter not into the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them, for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says YEHOWAH, “even lovingkindness and mercies.
6 Both the great and the small will die in this land: they will not be buried, neither will they lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.
7 Neither will any tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; nor will any give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 You will not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.”
9 For thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
10 And it will come to pass, when you show this people all these words, they will say unto you, ‘Why has YEHOWAH pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against YEHOWAH our Elohim?’
11 Then will you say unto them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says YEHOWAH, and have walked after other elohim, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law;
12 And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk each one after the imagination of their evil heart, that they may not hearken unto Me.
13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you know not, neither you nor your fathers; and there will you serve other elohim day and night; where I will not show you favor.’
14 Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says YEHOWAH, “that it will no more be said, ‘YEHOWAH lives, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’
15 But, ‘YEHOWAH lives, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where He had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I am going to send for many fishers,” says YEHOWAH, “and they will fish for them; and after I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 For My eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, neither is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.”
19 O YEHOWAH, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles will come unto You from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.”
20 Can anyone make an elohim unto themselves; yet they are no elohim.
21 Therefore, behold, “I will this once cause them to know, for I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they will know that My name is YEHOWAH.”

CHAPTER 17

“The sin of Yehudah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is graven upon the tables of their heart, and upon the horns of their altars;
2 while their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
3 O My Mountain in the country, I will give your substance and all your treasures for booty, and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders.
4 And you, even you, will disinherit your inheritance that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you know not, for you have kindled a fire in My anger, which will burn forever.”
5 Thus says YEHOWAH; “Cursed be the person that trusts in any human, and makes flesh their arm, and whose heart departs from YEHOWAH.
6 For they will be like the juniper in the desert, and will not see when good comes; but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed are they who trust in YEHOWAH, and whose hope is in YEHOWAH.
8 For they will be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and will not perceive when heat comes, but its leaves will be green; and will not be anxious in the year of drought, neither will it cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately wicked; who can know it?
10 I YEHOWAH search the heart, I try the minds, even to give each person according to their ways, and according to the fruit of their doings.
11 As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; those who gain riches unjustly will leave them in the midst of their days, and at their end will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O YEHOWAH, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be ashamed, and those who turn away on earth will be written down, because they have forsaken YEHOWAH, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O YEHOWAH, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved: for You are my praise.
15 Behold, they say unto me, “Where is the word of YEHOWAH? let it come now.”
16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd to follow You: neither have I desired the woeful day; You know that what came out of my lips was right before You.
17 Be not a terror unto me; You are my hope in the day of evil.
18 Let them be ashamed who persecute me, but do not let me be ashamed. Let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Thus said YEHOWAH unto me; “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Yehudah come in, and through which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 And say unto them, ‘Hear you the word of YEHOWAH, you kings of Yehudah, and all Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates.’
21 Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do you any work, but hallow you the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24 And it will come to pass, if you diligently hearken unto Me,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25 then will there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the children of Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city will remain forever.
26 And they will come from the cities of Yehudah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benyahmin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of YEHOWAH.
27 But if you will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.’”

CHAPTER 18

The word which came to Jeremiyah from YEHOWAH, saying,
2 “Rise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he was making something on the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter, so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of YEHOWAH came to me, saying,
6 “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?” says YEHOWAH. “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
7 At whatever instant I will speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8 if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9 And at whatever instant I will speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 if it does evil in My sight, that it obeys not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11 Now therefore speak to the children of Yehudah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH; “Behold, I am forming an evil against you, and devising a plan against you; return you now everyone from their evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.’
12 But they will say, ‘There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices, and we will everyone act according to the imagination of our evil heart.’
13 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Ask you now among the nations, who has ever heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Will the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the field? Or will the cold flowing waters that come from another place be dried up?
15 Because My people have forgotten Me; they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
16 to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; everyone that passes by will be astonished, and wag their head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.’
18 Then said they, ‘Come, and let us devise plans against Jeremiyah; for the law will not perish from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.’”
19 Give heed to me, O YEHOWAH, and hear the voices of those that contend with me.
20 Will evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You will bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, O YEHOWAH, you know all their counsel against me, to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight, but let them be overthrown before You; deal thus with them in the time of Your anger.

CHAPTER 19

Thus says YEHOWAH, “Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and some of the elders of the priests;
2 and go forth unto the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you,
3 And say, ‘Hear you the word of YEHOWAH, O kings of Yehudah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; “Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whosoever hears, their ears will tingle.
4 Because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other elohim, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Yehudah, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent;
5 and have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their children with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke of, neither did it come it into My mind;
6 therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says YEHOWAH, “that this place will no more be called Topheth, or The valley of Ben-hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
7 And I will make void the counsel of Yehudah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives, and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the birds of the sky, and for the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will make this city desolate, and a hissing. Everyone that passes by will be astonished and hiss, because of all its plagues.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat everyone the flesh of their friends in the siege and confinement, with which their enemies, and those that seek their lives, will constrain them.”
10 Then will you break the bottle in the sight of the elders that go with you,
11 And will say unto them, “Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts; ‘Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again. And they will bury them in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.
12 Thus will I do unto this place,” says YEHOWAH, “and to its inhabitants, and even make this city as Topheth.
13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Yehudah, will be defiled as the place of Topheth, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other elohim.”’”
14 Then came Jeremiyah from Topheth, where YEHOWAH had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of YEHOWAH’S house; and said to all the people,
15 “Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; ‘Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have proclaimed against it, because they have stiffened their necks, that they might not hear My words.’”

CHAPTER 20

Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of YEHOWAH, heard that Jeremiyah prophesied these things.
2 Then Pashur struck Jeremiyah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benyahmin, which was by the house of YEHOWAH.
3 And it came to pass on the next day that Pashur brought forth Jeremiyah out of the stocks, and Jeremiyah said unto him, “Pashur is not the name that YEHOWAH has called you, but rather Magor-missabib.”
4 For thus says YEHOWAH, “Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will behold it, and I will give all Yehudah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive into Babylon, and will slay them with the sword.
5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all its labors, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Yehudah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which will spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6 And you, Pashur, and all that dwell in your house will go into captivity, and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and will be buried there, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.”
7 O YEHOWAH, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than me, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily, everyone mocks me.
8 For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of YEHOWAH was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary of holding it in, and I could not withhold.
10 For I hear the slander of many; fear on every side. “Report,” say they, “and we will report it.” All my friends watched for my fall, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But YEHOWAH is with me as a fearful champion, therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail, and they will be greatly ashamed; for they will not prosper, and their everlasting shame will never be forgotten.
12 But, O YEHOWAH of hosts, who tries the righteous, and sees the minds and the hearts, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for unto You have I opened my cause.
13 Sing unto YEHOWAH, praise you YEHOWAH, for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day when I was born. Let not the day when my mother bore me be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, “A man child is born unto you”; making him very glad.
16 And let that man be as the cities which YEHOWAH overthrew, and repented not, and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
17 because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always pregnant with me.
18 Why did I ever come forth out of the womb; to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

CHAPTER 21

The word which came unto Jeremiyah from YEHOWAH, when king Zedekiyah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiyah, and Zephaniyah the son of Maaseiyah the priest, saying,
2 “Enquire, I pray you, of YEHOWAH for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; if so be that YEHOWAH will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that he may go up from us.”
3 Then said Jeremiyah unto them, “Thus will you say to Zedekiyah:
4 Thus says YEHOWAH Elohim of Israel; ‘Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, who besiege you outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6 And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both human and beast, and they will die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward,” says YEHOWAH, “I will deliver Zedekiyah king of Yehudah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword. And He will not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy.”
8 And unto this people you will say, “Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
9 Those that dwell in this city will die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence, but those that go out, and fall to the Chaldeans that besiege you, they will live, and their life will be unto them as booty.
10 For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, says YEHOWAH, and it will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.’”
11 And touching the house of the king of Yehudah, say, “Hear you the word of YEHOWAH;
12 O house of David, thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver those that are spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain,’ says YEHOWAH; ‘which say, “Who will come down against us? Or who will enter into our habitations?’”
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘and I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it will devour all things round about it.’”

CHAPTER 22

Thus says YEHOWAH; “Go down to the house of the king of Yehudah, and speak there this word,
2 And say, ‘Hear the word of YEHOWAH, O king of Yehudah, that sits upon the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people that enter in by these gates.’
3 Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you indeed do these things, then will there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses: he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘that this house will become a desolation.’
6 For thus says YEHOWAH unto the king’s house of Yehudah; ‘You are Gilead unto Me, and the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with their weapons: and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations will pass by this city, and they will say each one to their neighbor, “Why has YEHOWAH done thus unto this great city?”
9 Then they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of YEHOWAH their Elohim, and worshipped other elohim, and served them.”
10 Weep you not for the dead, neither mourn for them, but weep bitterly for those that go away; for they will return no more, nor see their native country.’
11 For thus says YEHOWAH regarding Shallum the son of Josiyah king of Yehudah, who reigned instead of Josiyeh his father, who went forth out of this place; ‘He will never return there again!
12 But he will die in the place where they lead him captive, and will see this land no more.
13 Woe unto those who build their house by unrighteousness, and their chambers by wrong; who use their neighbor’s service without wages, and gives them not for their work;
14 who say, “I will build me a wide house with large chambers, and cut out windows; and panel it with cedar, and paint it in vermilion.”
15 Will you reign, because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Was this not what it meant to know Me?’” says YEHOWAH.
17 “But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH concerning Yehoiakim the son of Josiyah king of Yehudah; ‘They will not lament for him, saying, “Ah my brother!” or, “Ah sister!” they will not lament for him, saying, “Ah lord!” or, “Ah his glory!”
19 He will be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’
20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages; for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke unto you in your prosperity; but you said, ‘I will not hear.’ This has been your manner from your youth, that you do not obey My voice.
22 The wind will sweep away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then will you be humiliated and ashamed for all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makes your nest in the cedars, how gracious will you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail?
24 As I live,” says YEHOWAH, “though Coniyah the son of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah, were a signet upon My right hand, yet would I pluck you off.
25 And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will cast you out, and your mother that bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there will you die.
27 But to the land to which they desire to return, they will never return to it.
28 Is this man Coniyah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are he and his seed cast out, and cast into a land which they know not?
29 O land, land, land, hear the word of YEHOWAH.
30 Thus says YEHOWAH, ‘Write this man childless; a man that will not prosper in his days. For no man of his seed will prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, or ruling any more in Yehudah.’”

CHAPTER 23

“Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says YEHOWAH.
2 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH Elohim of Israel against the shepherds that feed My people; “You have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings,” says YEHOWAH.
3 And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all nations where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will raise up shepherds over them who will feed them, and they will fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor will they be lacking,” says YEHOWAH.
5 “Behold, the days come,” says YEHOWAH, “that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King will reign and prosper, and will execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In His days Yehudah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name whereby He will be called, ‘YEHOWAH our Righteousness’.
7 Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says YEHOWAH, “that they will no more say, ‘YEHOWAH lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’
8 But, ‘YEHOWAH lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all nations where I had driven them;’ and they will dwell in their own land.”
9 My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of YEHOWAH, and because of the words of His holiness.
10 “For the land is full of adulterers; for because of cursing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their power is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; even in My house have I found their wickedness,” says YEHOWAH.
12 “Therefore their way will be unto them as slippery paths in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall in it, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their reckoning,” says YEHOWAH.
13 “And I have seen the folly of the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused My people Israel to err.
14 I have also seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem, for they commit adultery, and walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, that none repents from their wickedness. They are all of them unto Me as Sodom, and their inhabitants as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH of hosts concerning the prophets; ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem has profaneness gone forth into all the land.’”
16 Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy unto you. They make you vain; they speak a vision of their own heart, which is not from the mouth of YEHOWAH.
17 They continue saying to those that despise Me, ‘YEHOWAH has said, “You will have peace;” and they say unto everyone that walks after the imagination of their own heart, “No evil will come upon you.”’
18 But who has stood in the counsel of YEHOWAH, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind from YEHOWAH has gone forth in fury; even a grievous whirlwind; and it will fall grievously upon the heads of the wicked.
20 The anger of YEHOWAH will not return until He has done it, and until He has performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I an Elohim at hand,” says YEHOWAH, “and not an Elohim afar off?
24 Can anybody hide in a secret place that I will not see them?” says YEHOWAH. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says YEHOWAH.
25 “I hear what the prophets say; who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
27 who think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams, which they tell each one to their neighbor; as their fathers have forgotten My name because of Baal.
28 The prophet that has a dream, let them tell the dream; and they that have My word, let them speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says YEHOWAH.
29 “Is not My word like as a fire?” says YEHOWAH; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,” says YEHOWAH, “who steal My words; each one from their neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says YEHOWAH, who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’
32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says YEHOWAH, “and who tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their light; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they will not be useful to this people at all,” says YEHOWAH.
33 “And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, will ask you, saying, ‘What is the burden of YEHOWAH?’ You will then say unto them, ‘What burden? I will even forsake you,’” says YEHOWAH.
34 “And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who will say, ‘The burden of YEHOWAH,’ I will even punish that person and their household.
35 And you will each say to your neighbor and you will each say to your brethren, ‘What has YEHOWAH answered?’ and, ‘What has YEHOWAH spoken?’
36 And the burden of YEHOWAH you will mention no more, for each person’s words will be their burden; for you have perverted the words of the living Elohim, of YEHOWAH of hosts our Elohim.
37 Thus will you say to the prophet, ‘What has YEHOWAH answered you?’ and, ‘What has YEHOWAH spoken?’
38 For since you say, ‘The burden of YEHOWAH;’ therefore thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Because you say this word, “The burden of YEHOWAH,” and I have sent unto you, saying, “You will not say, ‘The burden of YEHOWAH;’”
39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and I will cast you out of My presence.
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.”

CHAPTER 24

YEHOWAH showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of YEHOWAH, after when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiyah the son of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah, and the princes of Yehudah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had taken them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten for their badness.
3 Then said YEHOWAH unto me, “What do you see Jeremiyah?” And I said, “Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, because of their badness.”
4 Again the word of YEHOWAH came unto me, saying,
5 “Thus says YEHOWAH, the Elohim of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive of Yehudah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6 For I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land, and I will build them up, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am YEHOWAH. And they will be My people, and I will be their Elohim; for they will return unto Me with their whole heart.
8 And as for the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, because they are so bad; surely thus says YEHOWAH, “So will I give Zedekiyah the king of Yehudah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and those that dwell in the land of Egypt,
9 and I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.”’”

CHAPTER 25

The word that came to Jeremiyah concerning all the people of Yehudah in the fourth year of Yehoiakim the son of Josiyah king of Yehudah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;
2 which Jeremiyah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Yehudah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiyah the son of Amon king of Yehudah, even unto this day, that is these twenty three years, the word of YEHOWAH has come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but you have not taken heed.
4 And YEHOWAH has sent unto you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not taken heed, nor inclined your ear to hear,
5 saying, ‘Turn back now each one of you from your evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that YEHOWAH has given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever:
6 And go not after other elohim to serve them, or to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.’
7 Yet you have not taken heed unto Me,” says YEHOWAH; “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8 Therefore thus says YEHOWAH of hosts; ‘Because you have not heard My words,
9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and a perpetual desolation.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
11 And this whole land will be desolate, and an astonishment. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it will come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation,’ says YEHOWAH, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
13 And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiyah has prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings will serve themselves of them also, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.’”
15 For thus said YEHOWAH Elohim of Israel unto me; “Take this cup of the wine of My wrath from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.
16 And they will drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 Then took I the cup from YEHOWAH’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom YEHOWAH had sent me:
18 To Jerusalem, and the cities of Yehudah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the
Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isles, which are beyond the sea,
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach will drink after them.
27 “Therefore you will say unto them, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, “Drink, and be drunken, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”’
28 And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say unto them, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts; “You will certainly drink.
29 For, lo, I am beginning to bring evil on the city that is called by My name, and shall you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth,”’ says YEHOWAH of hosts.
30 Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and say unto them, ‘YEHOWAH will roar from on high, and will utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will mightily roar against His dwelling place; He will give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise will come even to the ends of the earth; for YEHOWAH has a controversy with the nations, and He will judge all flesh, and He will give them that are wicked to the sword,’ says YEHOWAH.
32 Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts, ‘Behold, evil will go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind will be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
33 And those slain by YEHOWAH will be on that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they will be dung upon the ground.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in the ashes, you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come, and you will fall like a precious vessel.
35 And the shepherds will have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock, will be heard, for YEHOWAH has destroyed their pasture.
37 And the safe pastures are cut down, because of the fierce anger of YEHOWAH.
38 He has left His lair, as the lion; and their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of His fierce anger.’”

CHAPTER 26

In the beginning of the reign of Yehoiakim the son of Josiyah king of Yehudah came this word from YEHOWAH, saying,
2 “Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘Stand in the court of YEHOWAH’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Yehudah, which come to worship in YEHOWAH’S house, all the words that I command you to speak unto them. And do not hold back one word.
3 Perhaps they will take heed, and turn each one from their evil way, that I may repent from the calamity that I propose to do unto them, because of the evil of their deeds.
4 And you will say unto them, “Thus says YEHOWAH; ‘If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you,
5 to take heed to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but you have not taken heed,
6 then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.’”’”
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiyah speaking these words in the house of YEHOWAH.
8 And it came to pass, when Jeremiyah had made an end of speaking all that YEHOWAH had commanded him to speak unto all the people; that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die.
9 Why have you prophesied in the name of YEHOWAH, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiyah in the house of YEHOWAH.
10 When the princes of Yehudah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of YEHOWAH, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of YEHOWAH’S house.
11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy to die; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
12 Then Jeremiyah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “YEHOWAH sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.
13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of YEHOWAH your Elohim; and YEHOWAH will repent of the calamity that He has pronounced against you.
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and righteous unto you.
15 But know for certain, that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon its inhabitants; for of a truth YEHOWAH has sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.”
16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; “This man is not worthy to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of YEHOWAH our Elohim.”
17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,
18 “Micyah the Moresthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiyah king of Yehudah, and spoke to all the people of Yehudah, saying, ‘Thus says YEHOWAH of hosts; “Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.”
19 Did Hezekiyah king of Yehudah and all Yehudah put him at all to death? Did he not fear YEHOWAH, and besought YEHOWAH, and YEHOWAH repented of the evil which He had pronounced against them? But we may be committing a great evil against our souls.’
20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of YEHOWAH, Uriyah the son of Shemaiyah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiyah,
21 and when Yehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but when Uriyah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
22 And Yehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
23 And they brought forth Uriyah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Yehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.”
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiyah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.